Mennonite Church USA News Service

News archive

Contact: Laurie L. Oswald (316) 283-5100, E-mail: LaurieO@MennoniteUSA.org

MWC global gift-sharing brings acceptance of 'beautiful differences.'

Children see God's hand in full plates of food.

Commentary: Lost and found.

MWC global gift-sharing brings acceptance of 'beautiful differences'

From left, Beatriz Barrios of Uruguay, Elizabeth del Carmen Vado of Nicaragua and Rebecca Osiro of Kenya exchange addresses after meeting between African and Latin American women theologians during Mennonite World Conference in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 11-17.

by Laurie L. Oswald

This is the fifth story in a series depicting Africa 2003, Mennonite World Conference's Assembly Gathered in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 11-17.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (MC USA) -- No two people could live in such different places as Rebecca Osiro, a theology student of Kenya, and Miriam Book, an associate pastor of Pennsylvania and a Mennonite Church USA Executive Board delegate to Africa 2003.

That didn't keep them from sharing their lives at Mennonite World Conference in Bulawayo in August. Their interaction embodied MWC's theme of global gift sharing in which all people - in poverty or plenty -- are givers and receivers out of the trials and treasures of their lives and churches.

Women experienced this mutuality as Osiro and other Africans shared stories with North Americans such as Book during meetings and workshops. Against many odds, the Africans said they're developing a network of women theologians. They have few resources to pursue education; scant support for women in ministry; and HIV/AIDS deaths are tearing apart the close-knit fabric of their families. But they push on.

"Because of funding my education, we had to get a less expensive house in a less safe neighborhood where thieves broke in," said Osiro, a mother of five in Nairobi who ministers to Muslims through support from Eastern Mennonite Missions. "My husband, Joash, is a pastor of our Mennonite church, and he's supportive, but there are many hardships."

Osiro, a recipient of Mennonite Women USA's International Fund that helps pay a portion of her schooling, raises five children while being a student. One child is her 13-year-old nephew, whose parents died from AIDS, and who is sick himself.

"Between my husband and I, we've had six people die from AIDS in our families," Osiro said. "When I go to my home village, Kisumu, there are some homes that are totally vacated because everyone who lived in them have died."

African model, American woman

Book, who serves at Salford (Pa.) Mennonite Church, said the stories of Osiro and others inspired her. She hasn't faced the same hardships, but she has grappled with her call to be a pastor, Book said. The Africans' strong spirits model how a woman can respond to God's call, despite doubts and setbacks.

"These women said they need role models, but they are role models for us," Book said. "They spoke with such courage and boldness about their sense of call and how they know they are daughters of God. ... They don't waiver in their sense of dignity and are centered and secure in knowing they are gifted by God. But they say the playing field is not level with men in terms of being able to share those gifts."

From right, Pakisa Tshimika, co-author of Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith, and Sarah Adams, of the United States, lead a workshop on HIV/AIDS during Mennonite World Conference, held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 11-17.

Sharing gifts globally

Sharing one's gifts is a strong MWC focus. The assembly theme, "Sharing Gifts in Suffering and in Joy," grew out of MWC's global gift sharing project. Pakisa Tshimika, of Congo, who lives in Fresno, Calif., and Tim Lind, a North American who lives in Three Rivers, Mich., coordinated the project, begun in 1999.

Tshimika, MWC's associate executive secretary for networks and projects, and Lind, involved in international relief and development work, wrote about their project in Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith. More Anabaptists now live in Africa, Asia and Latin America than in the United States and Europe. So the authors ask: Can North Americans and Europeans learn to receive as well as give? Can the churches in the South uncover gifts they don't know they have?

Tshmika and Lind led workshops in Africa and trained about 15 facilitators from Latin America and Asia to lead workshops in their regional contexts. The workshop facilitators helped people in congregations to discover and uncover gifts. Those gifts can include teaching skills, making quilts and sharing finances. To date, they have held workshops in more than 50 national conferences.

The African women's theology network was born from these workshops, as their passion for ministry sparked Lind to help them to organize at the grassroots level. And now the African women have inspired the Latin American women to form a network

"It was exciting to watch people's faces as they created a list of gifts and resources from their own churches," Tshimika said in the book. "Many did not realize they had such rich churches. The joy came from recognizing that many things that are not traditionally considered gifts are actually gifts from God."

Lind, also in the book, said, "What strikes me ... is the wealth of diversity one finds from church to church, country to country. Sometimes I have felt that difference is just another word for gift. ... Difference is such a beautiful thing. ...How sad it is that the ugliest acts in human history have been committed because of these beautiful differences."

Beautiful differences

Beautiful differences were found throughout MWC 's gathering. Participants reflected on what it means to accept these differences and to become more mutual. It can mean sharing spiritual vitality with those who depend more on material security.

"North Americans often try to know God and his peace by research and by using formulas," said Bishop Joseph Nyakyema of Tanzania. "I think that Africans can help those from more materialistic and rationalistic cultures to see that having a degree doesn't make one spiritual. It's getting the story of Jesus and his power down into their hearts.

"The North American strengths have included all their missionary efforts in bringing the message about who Jesus is to us. Right now, I am learning a lot from being on a team with Joe Garber, who is with us from Eastern Mennonite Missions."

On the other side of the world, Jim Schrag, executive director of Mennonite Church USA, and part of the church's Executive Board MWC delegation, agrees that North Americans have much to learn, even as they have much to give.

"The mutuality of global gift sharing challenges us deeply," Schrag said. "It strikes at the heart of the realities of the differences and of the capabilities and resources of the different churches around the world. But it is the path we inevitably have to follow. And in the process, we will learn a great deal about ourselves, and others.

"The greatest gift we as North Americans bring to this process is our humility about both the potentials and limits that our material wealth presents. ...It gives us credibility and limits our credibility. ... It can make us and others see us in a one-dimensional way."

Sister to sister relationships

Efraim Hernandez, pastor of the Santa Rosa Brethren in Christ Church in Managua, Nicaragua, said that he has learned to give and receive in the sister-church relationship Santa Rosa shares with Harrisonburg (Va.) Mennonite Church, led by Pastor Beryl Jantzi.

"Becoming friends with Beryl and relating to his congregation has made me more optimistic about moving my church into the future," Hernandez said. "He's taught me a lot ... He's in his office at 8 a.m. every morning, doing important planning. ... We like to be more spontaneous, but he has shown me that planning is important. ...

"But even with our poverty in Nicaragua, we also have things to share. The people in our churches have a real heart for service and can share their faith very easily. ... We don't always see the gifts we have, but I guess that is why we all come to Mennonite World Conference. We help each other see with the eyes of faith."

Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church USA


Children see God's hand in full plates of food

A young girl of Zimbabwe prays during the morning worship time at the children's activities during Africa 2003 in August in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. About 700 children, ages 3-15, attended the daylong program.

by Laurie L. Oswald

This is the sixth story in a series depicting Africa 2003, Mennonite World Conference's Assembly Gathered in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 11-17.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (MC USA) -- Susan Sibanda's greatest joy when coordinating the daylong children's activities at Africa 2003 was the generosity of people who donated massive amounts of "biscuits," or cookies for snacks.

What may have been one of the greatest joys for the children -- who sometimes go hungry at home because of food shortages -- was that there were any cookies at all.

More than 700 children and youth, ages 3 through 15, participated in the activities held at Mennonite World Conference's Assembly Gathered at Zimbabwe's International Trade Fairgrounds. That's where they got worship and Bible time, trampolines, pony rides, games and field trips to such places as a game park and a museum.

And it's also where they got two square meals a day -- including "sadze," or boiled maize -- and lots of biscuits at break. This feeding of the 700 amazed Sibanda, of Bulawayo, and the Zimbabwean children, who have food and fuel shortages and hardship in their country.

"What struck me most about this week were all the donations that came from the locals and internationals, including many supplies like toys and crayons and huge box of biscuits for our breaks," said Sibanda, coordinator of the children's activities with about 50 volunteers from Zimbabwe and other countries. "We serve them tea, lunch and supper, the kids are getting platefuls of food -- sadze, meat, rice, chicken and salads.

"It's amazing to have all this abundance. Not even the kids here thought that this event would work. This is all strange for Zimbabwe - the platefuls of food and buses taking them back and forth. They are used to the food shortages and not seeing buses run because there isn't enough petroleum."

But not even shortages of food and fuel held back God's hand of generosity in the midst of their suffering, as about 7,000 believers from around the world came to Bulawayo to gather for the Mennonite World Conference and to offer solidarity, she said.

"This event, with its theme of 'sharing gifts in suffering and in joy,' taught me that people cared enough to come and be with us in our suffering," Sibanda said. "It has shown me and the children that God is great, and that nothing is impossible for him."

Volunteer Heidi Bowman, a student at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., enjoys making new friends with Lindani Sibindi of Zimbabwe (left) and another small girl, also of Zimbabwe, during children's activities at Mennonite World Conference in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 11-17.

While nothing was impossible, feeding and supervising so many children from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. took lots of work on the part of Sibanda -- a teacher in special and physical education and director of a preschool -- and the many volunteers. Two of those volunteers were Mary Hurst, a worker for Mennonite Mission Network and Eastern Mennonite Missions in Australia, and Theodore Lehman, a student at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.

The children's cooperative spirits most impressed Hurst, who said that many times she saw older children playing with the younger ones. The many Zimbabwean children -- and the few international children who attended - mixed well.

"In one case, a 7-year-old Zimbabwean girl took a 5-year-old girl, who is the daughter of parents in Mennonite Central Committee in Angola, under her wing," Hurst said. "The smaller girl tended to wander away a lot, and the older girl took her to ride the ponies, and helped her get back in line. ....

"At another time, I saw two little girls, one African and one white, walking arm in arm, across the field. There they were, no walls between them, enjoying each other's company. The Zimbabwean children were so hospitable."

The children's attitudes and spiritual enthusiasm also impressed Lehman, who attended MWC with an EMU cross-cultural program that included 11 other students and two leaders. He's been a camp counselor in the United States and found some differences in children from Zimbabwe and North America.

"I'm really enjoying these children," Lehman said. "Their singing is so enthusiastic, and they're so well behaved and hospitable. Even though we've all been here together for a couple of days already, they still treat me as a special guest.

"They don't complain, and they're very patient. Sometimes American children will complain about the food. But these children in Zimbabwe seem very thankful and eat what they're given."

Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church USA.


Lost and Found

by Laurie L. Oswald

After two days of travel to reach Africa 2003, I flew into Bulawayo and stumbled bleary-eyed to baggage claim. I jostled through tired bodies and found one of my suitcases and waited for the other. I finally spotted my big blue bag with black trim. But my heart sank. It was too light and it had a man's shirt inside. I crumpled to the airport desk in tears, as staff discovered that a man had taken my bag and left his.

It was a long first night in Africa, as I waited for the drama to play out. In a fog of jet lag while trying to calm down, I remembered that Mennonite World Conference staff recommended we read, Sharing Gifts in the Global Family of Faith, by Pakisa K. Tshimika and Tim Lind. The authors challenged us to look at the fact that the center of Christianity has moved south to Africa, Asia and Latin America, as more Anabaptist Christians live there than in the North. They encouraged us to consider what gifts churches in different parts of the world can share with each other. They asked us, "Are churches in Europe and North America willing and able to receive gifts as well as give them?"

That night, I tried to gain some perspective and told God that I knew I came to MWC to learn about gift sharing, but I didn't think that meant sharing my clothes with a stranger or wearing a man's shirt. More seriously I prayed, "God, life would be easier if you'd return my stuff." Fortunately, by the next morning, the fiasco ended. The man knew enough about Mennonite World Conference to track me down through a Mennonite Church USA Executive Board delegate.

After hearing stories of God at work around the world, not finding my full suitcase isn't even a blip on the screen of suffering. Africans shared how HIV/AIDS is destroying the middle generation in such places as Zimbabwe. The pandemic has left grandparents -- some who are no longer wage earners -- to care for orphans in poverty-stricken villages ravaged by food shortages. Latin Americans shared about widespread violence in places such as Colombia, where from January through June of this last year, 28 pastors were killed and another nine were missing. Asians shared about terrorist-induced political and religious turmoil in such places as Indonesia and the resultant persecution of Christians.

As the week unfolded, my overstuffed suitcase hounded me. I was relieved that the lost was found, but I also felt I had lost in having found all that stuff. I felt at a loss to identify with people who didn't have a closet full of clothes or a refrigerator full of food or a community full of safety. I felt at a loss to understand the spiritual vibrancy of people who have few goods but the riches of a raw dependence on God that brought dance to their worship, joy to their suffering, peace to their turbulence.

I found Zimbabweans who waited for an hour for a bus at midnight by bursting into song to pass the time. They were the ones who fed 7,000 people two meals a day while their children were hungry. They were the ones who thanked us for coming to their troubled land, when we needed to thank them for welcoming us in a time of trouble.

During MWC, the Africa Day theme was, "what we have, we give." We learned from our global sisters and brothers that it's what we give that makes us rich, not what we have. It's our needs that make us strong, not our strengths. In sharing our needs, we invite others to bring their gifts. As we give and receive, we develop mutual relationships as God's children. We're all hungry for Christ, the bread of life. We are all thirsty for his living waters of peace. We are all needy for the compassion of others in the suffering that comes with poverty and not having enough as well as the suffering that comes with plenty and having too much.

My greatest need was not my extra clothes but learning from Africans and others what it means to depend more on God and less on stuff, technology, position, self. If my suitcase hadn't returned, I would have survived. But if I had not found the joy of those who have less materially to fill me with wonder and inspiration to grow in my relationship to God and others, I would have come home empty.

Laurie L. Oswald is news service director for Mennonite Church USA, and was on assignment at Africa 2003 on behalf of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board, Mennonite Mission Network and Meetinghouse.